When We Fall (Take the Fall, #2)(59)

My mother’s ice-green gaze bounces from me to the woman who dares to question her. “Piper’s schedule is so full that I wasn’t sure if Ginger could spare her.” A blinding smile covers Mother’s face. “But here she is.”

Like a dutiful daughter, I take that as my cue to move closer and give my mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for having me, but before we get started, may I have a moment of your time?” I look around the table. “I’m in desperate need of motherly advice. I’m sure y’all understand.”

A woman wearing Lilly Pulitzer covers her heart with one hand. Her eyes are kind. “That’s so sweet. I hope my little Bentley—she’s only three right now—will do that when she’s older. You are so lucky, Whitley.”

“Indeed I am.” Her cold gaze flicks to me. “We’ll be back momentarily. Y’all discuss next week’s luncheon.”

I follow Mother to another room. She carefully shuts the door and then whirls around, her icy gaze now blazing. “What kind of stunt was that?”

My tongue grows thick and my throat starts to feel tight. “Th-that wasn’t a st-stunt.”

“Th-then w-what was it?” she mocks, and I feel like a little girl again. No, not a girl, but that overweight, shy teenager with a stutter and a yearning for a mother to love and accept her.

“I want you to tell Daddy to leave Jase and me alone.”

Her perfect face flushes. “You want me to dictate to your father?”

“He listens to you.”

She laughs bitterly. “All this for a fling, sugar? He must be good in bed.”

I don’t answer her. How can I?

“Actually, I do know how good Jase Simmons is,” she begins, and I feel sick. Wait. Jase would have told me if he had ever been with her. He would have. I refuse to believe otherwise. I’ll have faith in him, even if I have to confront his past. “That sweet-as-pie Beverly, whose daughter is Bentley, used to say he was an animal in the sack. Some even wonder if he’s the poor child’s father.”

“Hard to father a child from prison,” I point out.

“My, my, Piper Ross. Aren’t you full of yourself today.” Mother arches a brow, then opens her purse. She pulls out a lighter and a cigarette, giving me a look before lighting it. “You might want to stand over there in case your condition can’t take a little smoke.”

“Don’t you care about me at all?” I ask, taking a step back.

“I care about you getting this boy out of your system and doing the right thing,” she says. “This little act of rebellion has to stop.”

I cross my arms. “I’m not giving Jase up.”

She laughs. “Who said you have to?”

“My dad, for one.”

“He’s so old-fashioned when it comes to you,” she says. “Honey, just marry the right man and you can still have fun with the wrong one.”

“I should get married so I can cheat on my husband with Jase?”

“It’s The Oaks way.” She winks, then sobers. “Well, not for everyone, of course, but darling, girls from The Oaks don’t marry boys like Jase Simmons. He’s good for sex but not much else.”

I can’t even defend Jase to her. Mostly, because I know it won’t make a difference. Her mind is set.

“I can’t believe he’s the reason you moved out. You could have come to me, Piper. I would have understood. I had my own Jase Simmons when I was younger. Hell, he could be your daddy for all I know.”

My mouth drops open in shock.

“I’m only teasing. Your daddy is your daddy. He made sure of that,” she says cryptically. Opening a nearby window, she stubs out her cigarette and waves the smoke out before spritzing perfume on and eating a mint. “I’ll have a talk with him, sugar, make him understand what’s going on. But I’m going to need some assurance from you.”

“Assurance?” I have no idea what she could mean by this and I’m not sure if I want to know.

She walks to me and touches my cheek. Involuntarily, I lean into her touch. I’ve always wanted affection from her. “Marry the right man, Piper. Promise me that, and I’ll make sure your daddy leaves Jase alone.”

Marry the right man? The only man for me is Jase, not some preppy * who—“You have my promise. I will marry the right man.”

“Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”

I watch as she hurries back to her meeting, not bothering to invite me to go with her. Fine with me. I have other things to do.

Like convincing the right man to marry me.

—

“How did it go?” Jase asks as soon as I walk through the door of Tattoo Shop, but before I can answer, he gives me a hot kiss that sends my brain whirling for a moment.

When he finally stops, I have to gather my thoughts once more. “My mother says I should enjoy my fling with you. That she’ll intervene on my behalf with my dad.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me?”

“No, for once I believe her.”

He slices his hand through the air. “Not that she’ll intervene, but that she thinks we’re having a fling.”

“My mother assumes that’s what we are doing, and I allowed her to think as much.”